For 16 years, everywhere Ardis Dick Stenbakken went she carried a stack of devotional book manuscript submissions for editing. On overnight flights to Europe, Africa or Asia, she sat up editing devotionals while others around her snoozed. “When my husband drove anywhere, except on Sabbaths, I had the devotionals and edited. It was a never-ending task. Upon returning to the office, I entered my edits onto the computer.

As I look back, I don’t really know how I did it and ran the General Conference Women’s Ministries Department at the same time because after I retired and continued editing, it sometimes seemed like a full-time job,” Ardis tells NewsNuggets. So why did she do it? She says that when she retired from the General Conference she “asked to continue the editing as my ministry, and because it is a project in which I sincerely believe.”

The first devotional book was published in 1993 and was the brainchild of Rose Otis, first Women’s Ministry director of the General Conference. In 2001 Fabric of Faith was published as Ardis’s first book she fully edited. The books soon offered multiple blessings, Ardis, who retired with her husband in Loveland, explains.

“They bless the writers, women from all over the world, many who have never been in print before. And the books bless those who read them; many women who have wandered from their walk with God have been called back through the experiences our writers share. And unlike most books, none of the writers or editors receives any of the royalties because all the royalties go to scholarships for women, college and university women all over the world who might not be able to continue their education without this help.”

Thus far, from the books and other donations, over a million dollars in scholarships have been awarded to 2,164 women in 124 countries. “I am proud of that and praise God,” Ardis comments. “I have personally read hundreds of their applications and met many of the recipients.

Although her international travel came to a halt after she retired from her position at the world church headquarters, almost everywhere she goes, “women tell me what a blessing the books are to them; they tell me how a reading for a particular day was exactly what they needed. I didn’t know these women, so had no way of planning this—it is obviously the leading of the Holy Spirit.”

As editor and writer herself, Ardis recalls many stories making her smile. “One of the funny things that has happened is in regards to my name. On the books I use my name as Ardis Dick Stenbakken because my maiden name was Dick. But many people think I am using my husband’s name, Dick (for Richard). I tell them, ‘No, I had the name first.’”

In 2014 Ardis notified the Women’s Ministries leaders that she planned to retire from her editorial work. The 2016 book, Living His Love, will be the last with her name as editor. Carolyn Sutton, an accomplished Adventist writer living in Alabama, has taken over the responsibility. “She will do a marvelous job, and I will do all I can to support her by continuing to solicit writers and encourage people to buy and give the books. They are a perfect gift for any women for any occasion. It is gift that just goes on giving,” she adds. [Rajmund Dabrowski with Ardis Stenbakken; photo by Rajmund Dabrowski]